Wildlife Adventures!

I was tired when I got home from work today, so I made myself a cup of coffee & went & sat down in the living room to relax for a while. I started reading my book, & out of the corner of my eye, I see the bird feeder swinging wildly from side to side! I look closer at it, & realized that one of the squirrels had gotten totally INSIDE of my "squirrel-proof" feeder. So I got my camera & took a picture, then went back to my book. Not a minute later I start hearing these high pitched noises, so I look again, & the squirrel is stuck! It can't get it's back legs or tail out through the wire! I felt so bad, as it was flinging itself backwards & flailing it's paws out to the side in hopes of freeing itself, then it tried to cut through the wire with it's teeth! It finally just sat as it is in the middle picture, just panting! So I called Tom & asked if he could get it loose.....of course I got "the look"-----like what did I expect him to do about it-----but he dutifully went to the garage to get a wire cutter. As I'm standing there waiting for him to come back, the chipmunk arrives & starts climbing up the pole for his daily supply of bird seed! The squirrel starts whimpering again, so the chipmunk stops & looks up, I take a picture, it sits there for a few more seconds watching the squirrel try to escape, then decides NOW is not a good time, so hops back down & leaves! Tom comes out with a wire cutter, but I made him go back to get heavy gloves as I didn't want him to get bitten! So after more eye-rolling (from Tom, not the squirrel) he goes & gets the heavy gloves. He used a stick to lift the feeder off the pole & set it on the ground, & the squirrel started trying to pull itself through the wire by pulling on the ground for leverage, but it's back end wouldn't budge! Everytime Tom got near it, it would twist & try to bite him. In the end, Tom put a light sheet of wood over the middle of the squirrel so it couldn't twist up to bite him, & then he started on the sides of the feeder & cut the wires all the way around until he got to the squirrel. He tipped the top of the feeder up, which was now only attached by the wires on either side of the squirrel, & lowered it over the squirrel so it couldn't move, & then cut the last 2 wires. I never saw a squirrel run so fast, & without so much as a "thank you very much"! I hope he learned his lesson & I'm glad he's ok, but my birdfeeder is toast! I'll have to try a different design next time---something that says "DELUXE squirrel-proof feeder"! Tom says to look for one that comes with an escape hatch! Haha! :)